1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to improvements in a mobile ballast regulator machine for distributing and shaping ballast of a ballast bed supporting a track consisting of two rails fastened to ties, the two track rails defining a center portion of the track therebetween and respective shoulders supporting opposite ends of the ties at field sides of the rails, which comprises a machine frame supported by undercarriages for mobility along the track in an operating direction, a drive for moving the machine frame in this direction, and operator's cab on the machine frame, a ballast planing plow arrangement vertically adjustably mounted on the machine frame and extending from shoulder to shoulder, the ballast planing plow arrangement including central plow elements extending over the center track portion, and a power drive for vertically adjusting the ballast planing plow arrangement.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A ballast regulator of this type has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,651,587, dated Mar. 28, 1972. The vertically adjustable ballast planing plow arrangement of this machine extends across the track from shoulder to shoulder and is comprised essentially of two ballast plows respectively associated with each rail. Each ballast plow is longitudinally displaceable along a guide on the machine frame so that the plows with their operating elements may be individually adjusted at each rail. The ballast planing plow arrangement may be mounted on a self-propelled machine frame carrying an operator's cab or on the machine frame of a ballast cleaning machine, a tie tamper or a crib tamper, either between the undercarriages of the machine frame or cantilevered to a front end thereof, and the operating elements of the ballast planing plow arrangement are adjustable into a great variety of operating positions, all extending across the track bed. Such ballast regulators have been very successfully used in track maintenance and rehabilitation work.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,877,160, dated Apr. 15, 1975, discloses another such ballast regulator whose ballast planing plow arrangement is vertically adjustably mounted on a self-propelled machine between the undercarriages thereof below an operator's cab. The ballast planing plow arrangement has plowshares forming a V-configuration, a tunnel-shaped element covering each rail and being affixed to a respective transverse plowshare to which a side plowshare is connected and extends to a respective track shoulder. Three plowshares pivotal about a vertical axis are arranged in the center portion of the track between the transverse plowshares, two of which form the apex of the V-configuration and the third one projecting forwardly in the operating direction. Additional transverse and side plowshares are associated with each tunnel-shaped rail covering element to form a double-V to guide ballast inwardly toward the pivotal center plowshares. Shoulder plows on each side of the machine frame precede the ballast planing plow arrangement in the operating direction, and a trailing, transversely arranged ballast broom with flexible sweeping hoses is rotatable to convey any ballast on the ties to an elevator which conveys such ballast to a storage container on the machine frame. This ballast regulator has also been very successfully used in commercial operations and enables ballast to be readily distributed to any desired ballast bed area. Similar machines have been disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,249,325, dated Feb. 10, 1981, and 4,282,663, dated Aug. 11, 1981.
British patent No. 1,006,639, published Oct. 6, 1965, discloses a self-propelled machine for clearing ballast from the center of the track toward the two ballast bed strips on which the track rails are supported to avoid "riding" of the ties on accumulations of ballast in the track center. For this purpose, two ballast brooms with radially projecting flexible hoses are mounted on a vertically adjustable carrier, the brooms being rotatable in opposite directions about axes extending in the direction of the track to convey ballast from the center laterally outwardly. The brooms are transversely spaced from each other and slightly staggered in the direction of the track.
British patent No. 1,040,104, published Aug. 24, 1965, discloses a small track car mounting a crib ballast compactor between its undercarriages and preceded by ballast brooms with radially projecting flexible hoses in the operating direction. The ballast brooms are mounted on a common, vertically adjustable carrier frame cantilevered to a front end of the car frame, one of the brooms being rotatable about an axis extending transversely to the track while two additional ballast brooms precede the transverse broom and are rotatable about axes extending in the direction of the track. This enables excess ballast to be swept from the center of the track towards the rails and, at the same time, any ballast lying on the ties to be swept into the adjacent cribs for subsequent compaction.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,742,628 discloses a mobile ballast regulator with a ballast planing plow arrangement vertically adjustably mounted on a machine frame between the undercarriages thereof and in front of an operator's cab. This arrangement comprises a respective tunnel-shaped element covering each rail, a respective transverse plowshare above each tunnel-shaped rail covering element and a side plowshare pivoted to each transverse plowshare. A vertically adjustable carrier frame is arranged centrally between the two transverse plowshares which are linked to the carrier frame for pivoting about a vertical axis, and a drive is connected to the transverse plowshares for pivoting the same. The gap between the two transverse plowshares is bridged in the center of the track by a ballast conveying drum with radially projecting iron vanes, and this drum is vertically adjustably mounted on the carrier frame and is rotatable about an axis extending in the direction of the track. This ballast planing plow arrangement, including the plowshares and the drum, extends from shoulder to shoulder and is designed to distribute ballast from an obliquely positioned half at one shoulder to the center of the track whence it is conveyed to the opposite shoulder by the rotating drum. Depending on the rotational speed of the drum, the ballast flow from one to the opposite shoulder may be unfavorably influenced. Furthermore, the drum vanes will prevent any ballast flow when the drum is not rotated. In addition, the rigidity of the drum vanes produce a milling effect causing considerable wear on the radially projecting vanes. When the drum mounted on the carrier frame is raised, a relatively large gap remains in the center of the ballast planing plow arrangement, which would lead to an undesirable accumulation of ballast remaining in the center track portion. Therefore, the arrangement cannot be used in practice without the drum. For all these reasons, such ballast regulators using rigid ballast conveying vanes have not been successfully used in track maintenance and rehabilitation work.
A similar ballast regulator has been disclosed in European patent application No. 164,160, published Dec. 11, 1985. In this machine, the ballast conveying drum with radially projecting iron vanes is rotatable about a vertical axis. The machine has substantially the same disadvantages.